The Beast Inside
by MCRightwing
Summary: AU. In Sandover Village Jak gets injected with dark eco and lives on the run while trying to find a way to stop himself from turning into a rage monster.
1. Chapter 1

The Beast Inside

Chapter 1

Morning Routine

Jak woke up in his cold, dark room with the smell of bog in his nose.

He got out of bed wearing an old tank top and loose pants and pulled out a mat and a homemade ticking machine. It took him awhile to build it. Mainly just getting blue eco from the sage.

He spread his mat on the cold wooden floor and sat on it with his legs crossed.

He then took a deep breath and pushed the button on his ticker.

He sat up straight and closed his eyes.

Jak remembered back to how he got here in the first place.

_Jak was strapped to a med chair in a room by himself._

_Well… not entirely; his friends were on the other side of a glass wall._

_Watching him closely was Keira who was worried sick for him._

_Jak saw this and winked at her silently telling her it was ok._

_She smiled slightly and placed her hand on the glass._

_Later Daxter hopped up on her shoulder._

"_How ya doin, buddy?"_

_Jak gave him a thumbs up._

"_Remind me again why we need to do this." Keira asked._

"_The old man says it will increase how much eco he can hold at once."_

"_STOP CALLING ME OLD!"_

_They turned around and saw Samos there._

"_We're ready to begin." He said._

_Daxter jumped off Keira's shoulder and got to the main switch._

_Keira turned her attention back to Jak._

"_Ready?" Dax said to Jak._

_Jak nodded his head._

_Dax pulled the switch and the room filled with a purple smoke._

_Immediately Keira knew something was wrong._

"_Is that supposed to be purple?"_

"_No, it's not." Samos said._

"_RRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"_

_The three of them turned to see Jak break out of his restraints._

_His skin was grey, his nails turned into long, black claws, his hair matched his skin, he had black horns grow out of his head and his eyes were a solid black._

_Also sparks of purple electricity came out of his body._

_Jak snarled and smashed through the glass wall and started to ransack the room._

_He didn't notice he had knocked his friends unconscious._

_Some self control came back to him as he made his way over to Keira._

_He reached his clawed hand out to her but was interrupted by a one of the guards Samos had gotten in case of an emergency._

_The guard shot Jak with his gun which only made him angrier._

_Jak hit him hard in the head and ran out into the forest._

_He woke up a day later remembering everything and ran as quickly as he could to the hospital._

_He walked in and went to Keira's room first._

_She was bruised and had her arm in a cast._

_Jak looked in the rooms on either side of her._

_Dax was in one and Samos was in the other._

_Suddenly Jak was being pushed away from her by the head of the guards._

"_GET AWAY FROM THEM, DARK ECO FREAK!"_

_Jak got away from him and looked behind him and saw him talk to one of his men._

_The only word Jak heard was "Capture."_

_Jak ran out of the building and took Keira's zoomer and drove it to the blue village._

_He found an old building in the swamp and took refuge there._

_He knew he couldn't go back. Not until he found a cure. Plus the guards were after him._

_Along the years he had finally started speaking, grown a small beard along with letting his hair grow out to a little bit past his neck, started doing odd jobs and found out that anger made this beast come out of him._

_While he had slipped and let it out every now and then with time he was learning to control it._

_Of course he had nightmares almost every night and had flashbacks every time he meditated._

Jak hit the button on the ticker covered with sweat and out of breath.

He huffed in and out, got up and put on a jacket over his tank top and put some more outside appropriate pants and his shoes.

He then went and fed his crocidog.

Once that was done he went to make some food for himself.

All he had was some burger meat. So he cooked it and put it on a plate and got a fork.

He picked a small piece and gave it to his crocidog.

"How is it?" He asked knowing he wouldn't get an answer.

He took his plate and went to his table and started eating.

He looked up and pushed a button on his old communicator which he had turned into a radio.

"It's the top of the…" "Class… Class… SHUT UP! Thank you…" "Scientists have discovered that…" "And the Lord said…"

He turned it off not finding anything good.

He ate his food in silence.

When he was done he made his way into town to see if anyone needed some work done.


	2. Breathing

Chapter 2

Breathing

Before he went to look for work Jak stopped by the village hero for some training.

Jak needed to hone his skills and learn to fight without getting angry.

The warrior was a whiner but he was Jak's only source of learning control.

"Ah, Jak. How are you?" He said.

"Fine. What are we doing today?"

"Breathing."

He instructed Jak to sit across from him.

"Alright." He put his hand over his chest. "Here is emotion." He then placed his hand over his stomach. "Here is control."

Jak nodded.

"Use your diaphragm."

He started to do labor breathing really using his stomach.

Jak did the same thing.

"The best way to control your anger," He said. "Is to control your body."

He pointed at Jak's chest.

Control your pulse.

Jak nodded.

_SLAP!_

Jak started to get angry.

"Breathe, breathe." The warrior said.

Jak started to do quick breathing.

_SLAP!_

"Wait." Jak whispered.

Jak looked at his left wrist where he had a dark eco detector.

The levels were slowly rising along with his anger.

When the levels dropped Jak said he was good.

"That's enough for today."

Jak nodded and made his way out to find some work.


	3. Finding Work

Chapter 3

Finding Work

Jak headed to the notice bored he made for people who needed odd jobs done.

Simply write what you need done on some paper and how much you're willing to pay for it and someone will take the paper and go see them about the job.

Jak found something that seemed easy.

The Geologist apparently needed some pictures of the moles for research.

100 precursor orbs.

Enough to fill Jak's fridge.

Jak took the paper and headed to the Precursor Basin.

Once he got there he saw someone else had gotten there.

However he didn't follow the rules and left the paper on the bored.

Jak walked up to the geologist.

"Ah Jak, how are you?"

"Good. I came about the camera job."

The ginger elf that got there first glared at him.

"Hey, I was here first!"

"You didn't take the paper off the bored so the job is still open." Jak said calmly.

"You gotta be kidding!" The ginger said.

"Sorry Errol, but he's right."

"Errol?" Jak asked, starting to sinker.

"Shut up, It's a family name! My son will be named Errol! And he will name his son Errol too." Errol said.

"Like some woman would want to be with you." Jak whispered to himself.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Errol yelled.

Jak put his hands up in defense.

"Nothing." He said.

The geologist stepped in.

"I think it's best you leave Errol."

"Fine! I can get more money beating that time record anyway."

Errol turned and left.

"Sorry about him." The geologist said.

"It's fine. So about the job."

He handed her the paper.

"Thank you."

She handed him a camera.

"I need at least 20 pictures. But I'll give you a power cell if you can get 30."

"I could use one of those." He said.

Jak took the camera and headed into the basin.

About 3 hours later he came back with 33 pictures.

"I'm back." He said.

"Ah, how did it go?" She asked.

Jak handed her the camera.

"33 pictures." He said proudly.

"Let me see."

She took the camera and looked through the pictures.

"These are great." She said.

"Thanks."

She reached in her bag and pulled out the orbs and the power cell.

"As promised."

"Thank you. I can eat meat tonight."

He took the bag and started to leave.

"Jak, wait." She said.

He turned his head to look at her.

"You've been helping me like this for months now. Why don't you accept my offer and be my assistant? It pays better and your name will be in papers."

"I'm sorry but no. I just can't." He said in shame.

"Offer still stands."

"Thanks anyway." He said.

He turned and headed to the market to get some food.


End file.
